Clevertim

Cons
No storage with free subscription. Can't add photos to contacts. Dropbox email integration feature did not add contacts to database. Overly strict size limit to files that can be uploaded to contacts.

Bottom Line

Clevertim is one of the cheapest CRM services around. That low cost translates to a sacrifice of features you'll find in competing CRM products, though. Furthermore, competing CRM SMB services give you more bang for a little more buck.

Clevertim is a relatively new cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) solution. There are a considerable number of online CRM services, but Clevertim is looking to differentiate itself from competitors in two ways: with an easy-to-use, streamlined interface and by keeping the subscription model simple and affordable. It is probably one of the cheapest CRM services you will find, but for that low cost, you sacrifice some features you get from the competition. Services such as Insightly, a competing cloud-based CRM offering, give you more bang for a little more buck. In addition, Clevertim needs to work out a few issues with its service.

Clevertim, Not TimeFirst things first: The product is "Clever Tim" as in Tim, short for Timmy, and not "Clever Time" as I kept mistakenly calling it in my head when I first reviewed it. Tim is the name of the company's mascot, the panda bear in its logo.

Price and StorageAs with most Web-based CRM products, you go to Clevertim's site to create an account and login. Pricing and subscription fees are straightforward. A free account allows two users to share a Clevertim database; which supports 250 contacts, 250 cases, and 10 opportunities—jargon for sales leads or potential clients.

The next subscription level is $24 per month to accommodate up to six users. This level offers 5GB of storage, 5,000 contacts, 5,000 cases, and 50 opportunities. For $49 per month, the service scales to accommodate up to 15 users, provides 15GB of storage, 20,000 each of contacts and cases, and unlimited opportunities. The highest tier of service is $99 per month which allows up to 40 users, 30GB of storage, 30,000 each of contacts and cases, along with unlimited opportunities.

So yes, the cost is low when compared with CRM built for larger businesses. For instance, leading CRM provider, Salesforce.com charges a starting price of $65 per user per month for over five users. Still, Clevertim may not be the best deal in town for small businesses who need only a free account but would also like some online storage, which Clevertim's free subscription does not provide. Insightly's free subscription allows up to three users, 2,500 contacts, as well as unlimited projects, organizations, and opportunities, and 250MB of online storage. Salesforce.com gives all level users a minimum of 1GB of data and 11GB of file storage shared by all users. Insightly's paid-for levels provide more storage as well, albeit at slightly higher prices than Clevertim.

Of course, if a small business already has an online storage account—and just about everyone does nowadays—the lack of storage is not a big deal. I would be more concerned with the rather paltry allowance of 250 contacts with the free account, especially when I can get 2,500 with Insightly's free subscription.

I do like the fact that you can try out Clevertim for 30 days, and that's for any level of the service, without having to enter a credit card. After 30 days, if you don't wish to purchase a paid-for level of service you are trying out, your access is simply blocked.

I first tried signing up with my test Gmail account, and experienced an odd issue. Clevertim allowed me to create the account and even sent a verification email to my Gmail inbox, but when I tried to use that email address as a username to login after verification, I got the message, "Ensure this value has at most 30 characters (it has 31)." So I was able to create the login with a 31-character username, but could not login.

I also had a problem signing up for a free level account using Internet Explorer 9. The button for "Create Account" would not activate. I switched to Firefox, used a shorter username and, finally, Clevertim played nicer—I was able to sign in.

Samara Lynn has nearly twenty years experience in Information Technology; most recently as IT Director at a major New York City healthcare facility. She has a Bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College, several technology certifications, and...

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